GlocalNet

Yesterday I was at Fellowship Church with Gary Brandenburg, Brian Hook, and other Vision360 guys in DFW for a church planters round table.  There were about 35 of us and it was a blast.  I’m so incredibly excited about what I see with young planters emerging that are in their 20’s.  There are so many different models emerging and conversations that I’ve not heard taking place.  I’m optimistic about their focus on discipleship and global issues - something that is gaining some ground, but still way behind most church planters and churches in the West.  Something else that stood out in my mind was all the different ethnicities of the guys at the table.  It wasn’t a young white guys club - which was good.  There were lots of young white guys, but Indians, Hispanics, Africans, Chinese, and other Asians.  I felt like I was sitting with a global group of guys.  When I start speaking on stuff like that and the international guys are there, the others know there is something to it, just not what to do with it.  I got to hang out with someone I believe will be an incredible young planter - a white dude.  I told him there are 3 things I won’t compromise on that I expect of him if he wants to partner with us:  regularly start churches out of his church, work with the poorest of the poor around him, and pick a hard place in the world and work.  He told me the last one would be the hardest - he wants to do it, he just doesn’t know how, or who to connect with.  That is something that most of the networks and denominations haven’t really talked a lot about it.  Sadly, most of their ways of connecting are very, very old School.  I recently spoke at Micah Fries Forum One21 at Frederick Blvd. Baptist Church in St. Joseph, Missouri, and it was just incredible.  One is 1st century missions in a 21st century context.  I shared that for the most part the US church is One19 - we are doing first century missions in a 19th century context.  Basically, what that means is funding a few “vocational” people while ignoring the global church and the people in the pew.  It’s a new day and I see it dawning.